Collide
by Ryuuko1
Summary: How does one reconcile memories of twenty years in a future that will never happen when only one day has passed in one's current reality...? AU DP/Gargoyles crossover
1. Chapter 1

**Author**: This has been eating a hole in my hard-drive for some time now. It's my first stab at a _serious_ cross-over. Just as a warning: The OCs will be many, they will not be stereotypical, and will be used tastefully. Also, this story will be updated at random. Still working on Daniel Masters, still working on A Year is an Awfully Long Time. Am I a masochist? Not really... One last thing: DP canon through 3rd season but pre-PP; Gargoyles through season 2--no season 3.

**Disclaimer**: I've written almost 50 stories across many fandoms. I still don't own any of them.

--**Chapter 1**--

"DANNY!"

Danny had enough time to brace himself slightly before he was overwhelmed by enthusiastic hugs, six voices speaking all at once.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Danny laughed and phased himself free, pulling down the hood of his cloak to reveal his face. He picked up the smallest of the group and settled the little girl on his shoulders, she grasping onto his cloak with a shriek of happiness. "How have you all been?" Danny asked as he knelt down and hugged everyone back, a smile on his face.

"There's a new one!" a boy of around 8 told him.

"Oh?" Danny asked, ignoring how a 5-year-old boy was climbing up his cloak onto his back.

"Uh-huh," a girl of ten said. "She's _really_ cute." The 'really' was dragged out for some time, and Danny stood, picking up another child by the waist, settling him on his hip.

"Then lead on," Danny said with a laugh in his voice, the eldest of the group blazing a trail further into the compound.

As they walked along, more voices cried out in greeting, and Danny waved at them with his free hand. It was good to be home.

They eventually exited out into what served as the play-room for the younger children (ages 11 to 0), and Danny's eyes lit up as he caught sight of his lover on the other side of the room. Danny deposited his load of children, who ran away to play with their friends (save for the littlest, who clung to his head, making Danny sigh in surrender) before he walked over to his lover.

"Back so soon?" Sam asked, slipping an arm around Danny's waist.

"And not soon enough," Danny answered before kissing him thoroughly. "Samuel, it's _over_."

"What is?"

"Everything. We found the last preserves of the strain and destroyed them. The South American gargoyles have _finally_ found a cure for the infection, and there's been the vaccine since a few years ago. It's _finally over._"

Sam's eyes lit up and he hugged Danny with a wide smile. "That's fantastic! Now you won't be running off to go and nearly get yourself killed on crazy missions that only you would have the balls to accept."

Danny snorted and the little girl on his shoulders giggled at the sound. "I'm not _that_ bad..." Danny's face became quickly serious. "Leah said that there's a new girl."

Sam's face fell slightly. "Yes, full ghost. Her parents aborted her once it became apparent that she was going to be half-ghost."

Danny scowled. "That's the worst possible thing they could do. How'd she find her way here?"

"The ley line, I think. I'm never quire sure. Current theory is that and you must leave some kind of...signal. Your Signature must have seeped into here enough that it's a beacon of comfort to the Lost Ones."

"That always makes me nervous. What if...?"

Sam shook his head and gently caressed Danny's cheek. "Listen, love. You have so many locks and checks and barriers here that no-one could possibly get in unless they knew what to look for. That you've also somehow made some of the shields able to detect _intent_ and if the paranormal person is being controlled, even without their knowledge, and keep them out...I'll never figure out how you managed _that_."

"I'm special," Danny drawled and rested his forehead against his lover's.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh."

"So, can I meet the little ghost?"

"She's over there," Sam said and jerked a thumb in the direction of where Marla and Sarah (two adult full-ghosts) were standing. "She's...still disoriented. Perhaps your presence will do her good."

No-one was entirely sure why, but Danny had a...calming...effect on human ghosts and half-ghosts. They seemed to simply feel _safer_ with him, especially when they are newly-come into their bizarre existence. Danny walked over to the two ghosts and caught sight of a small ball of energy shivering in Sarah's arms.

"Is she the new little one?" Danny asked softly when the two female ghosts looked up at him. Marla nodded slowly and smiled faintly as the baby looked at Danny with curious eyes, the little girl on his shoulder looking at the ghost from around Danny's head.

"Yes...we're not sure how she got here without being destroyed in the process. You know how hard it is to ride the ley lines alone, let alone while so young."

Danny nodded and gently took the child in his arms, who immediately fisted her hands in Danny's cape, cooing softly and leaning into his embrace.

Sarah looked amused and flustered. "How _do_ you do it?"

Danny shrugged and gave her a wry smile. "I have no idea. It's not a bad thing, though..."

"I assume you'll be adopting this one, then?"

Danny sighed heavily. "For the time being, I suppose. Until she's less terrified of the transition and can be cared for by other ghosts." Danny groaned softly. "Sam's going to be annoyed with me. He says I take on too many 'charity cases' as is."

The two ghosts looked at each other in poorly-concealed amusement.

Danny rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go pass out now."

"I thought you don't need sleep."

Danny shrugged. "I need to fall into a healing trance. I'm worse than I look. I've just gotten very good at patching myself up so that my lovers don't finish the job my enemies started." Danny cloned himself and took the little girl off his shoulders and placed her on the ground before giving her a wide smile. "I'll be back, Kate. Play nice."

The girl gave him a quick nod before running off, Danny's clone dispelling. Danny looked at the child in his arms and sighed heavily.

"She's asleep, isn't she?" Sarah said with unholy amusement.

"Almost." Danny shifted his hold and lightly kissed the baby on the forehead. "She should feel my presence for a while longer. It will _slowly_ diminish, so it shouldn't be jarring to her and make her fuss," Danny said and transferred the baby to Marla. "I'll see you two around."

Danny walked away from the play area and into the residential quarters. He finally allowed his exhaustion to show and a hand found its way to his side beneath his cloak. When he removed it, it came away tacky with ectoplasm, making him sigh heavily.

_But it's over, Danny. Focus on that._

Danny entered his private quarters and collapsed on his futon, a thought leaving him bare except for the layer of skintight cloth that was his constant outfit. Bearing his skin anymore invited all sorts of dangers. He sprawled across the bedding and dragged the covers over him, falling very quickly into the healing trance that would bring his body back to full working condition. It wasn't _quite_ sleep, but it was a good enough substitute.

He'd hate to dream, anyway, after all he had seen...

–

"Daddy! Daddy, wake up! Sam says you need to get up!"

Danny groaned from beneath the covers before he reached out, grabbed his son, and dragged him against him, causing the boy to squawk in protest and wriggle against him. Danny's grip merely tightened as he held his biological child (of sorts) close. "Don't wanna," he pouted and he could feel the amusement radiating off the boy.

"Sam says it's important grown-up stuff."

"I don't want to be a grown-up anymore," Danny whined. "Think you can take my place?"

"No! They wouldn't believe me!"

"I can make a very convincing illusion...?"

"_Daddy..._"

There was a brief, warm silence before his son started squirming again. "Leggo! I'm a big boy now!"

"Mm...10 years old, right? Your birthday's...next week?"

"Yup! I'm gonna be 11!"

"That you are," Danny said softly, with no small amount of pride. That his children had survived this long at all was a miracle in and of itself. They were strong...far stronger than he had ever been. Especially with him gone so much and coming back wounded so often...

"Daddy, _leggo_!"

"Fine, Vlad, fine!" Danny sighed and released his hold on the boy, who pushed the covers away and gave him a winning smile.

"Julia was told to wake you, too, but _I_ got here first."

"That you did," Danny murmured and pushed himself up to a sitting position. As if the mention had summoned the girl, Danny's oldest—nearly 13!—arrived, poking her head in.

"He got you up, huh?" Julia said in a dry, superior, older-sister voice.

"Better than _you_ could've," Vlad shot back, making her roll her eyes.

Danny stood with a smile and snapped his fingers, his armor and cloak immediately remolding to his body. "Vladdy says that Sam said that I have something to go to."

Julia nodded and stepped out of the doorway, letting her brother and father pass. "Wouldn't tell us what, though," the girl said with a small amount of bitterness.

Danny smiled affectionately and ruffled her hair. "Relax, Jewels. It can't be anything that will take too long."

"That's what you said _last time_ and then you went to area 15..."

Danny gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I have only good news this time, though, so I should be done in an hour, max."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Julia gave him a wary look that broke his metaphorical heart, but he knew it was unavoidable. The past 10 years—most of his children's lives—had been hard, with him coming and going constantly, grabbing perhaps a month of rest at best, less than a day at worst. This time, though...this time things were _over_ and he'd be able to spend the rest of his life being the best father possible to them, and any other Lost Ones who wormed their way into his life.

"What have you been learning recently?" he asked his daughter, catching her hand (and her brother's) in his. The two looked briefly startled at the contact before relaxing.

"I'm learning lots of cool stuff."

"Yeah, well _I'm_ learning _cooler_ stuff."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are—"

"Vladimir. Julia. _Please._ I bet they're both the height of awesome. Let's go one at a time and _not_ argue too much, ok?"

The children gave him a disbelieving look and Danny sighed. "I was afraid that was the case. Fine. What are you guys learning in..." Danny riffled through a few topics in his mind, "...math?"

The two began to chatter away at Danny, who prompted them whenever the conversation lagged. He was walking as slowly as possible, dreading what he may encounter when he finally reached the meeting room. He didn't feel like dealing with crises anymore...

Unfortunately, they soon found themselves outside the door and Danny sighed heavily. He knelt down and gave both his children a quick hug and kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you both soon, okay?"

They both nodded, and Danny's heart ached at the trust in their eyes. He'd hate to see it fade and die...but he knew that it one day would, just because that's how life _worked._ Danny stood and faced the door, rubbing his hand across his buzz-cut hair and opened the door with no small amount of trepidation.

Inside, the persons waiting were all too familiar, and that familiarity made him both wary and relaxed.

"My children said you had something to talk about?" Danny asked solemnly as he joined the people at the table, propping himself on air, making one of the half-ghosts roll his eyes and mutter something that sounded remarkably like 'show off'.

Xanatos nodded. "We never _did_ get your debriefing..."

Danny sighed. "I'm sorry—I forgot. I just...my _children_..."

"We understand," Queens told him, her eyes briefly darting up to her beloved and mate, Goliath. "But, how did things go?"

Danny smirked triumphantly. "I'm happy to say everything has been destroyed. There are no more preserved strains of Ectopox left in the world."

There was an near simultaneous sigh of relief, and the tension in the room almost completely disappeared.

"That's wonderful!" Maggie said with a smile.

"True peace _at last_," Goliath breathed, his massive shoulders slowly relaxing.

"That's the _good news_," Danny said, his smile becoming slightly sad. "There were casualties, though: we lost Amanda and Miguel among the ghosts, the Gargoyle Takeshi, and the Gamma Squad. It...wasn't easy. I did my best to protect them, but I couldn't be everywhere."

"They will be missed..." Matt Bluestone trailed off, rubbing his face in exhaustion. "I'm just _tired_ of people dying."

"People die no matter what," Fox said, a surprisingly gentle tone in her voice. "But from now on, it won't be a _violent_ death."

"Which is all we can hope for," Xanatos murmured, looking at his wife. "What exactly happened?" he asked, looking back to Danny.

Danny sighed. "We found the location with a little bit of trouble—they were good about hiding it behind a number of physical, ghostly, and magical shields. Everything was keyed, but you know how good a hacker Kim was. We got through the physical and magical with her help, while Miguel took care of the ghost shields. After that...got past booby traps, paranormal and normal guards, etc., etc. We managed to located where the strands were, I took them out. The ones running the complex were desperate, and desperation makes people strong. That's how Takeshi and Amanda were taken out, protecting and healing the gamma squad. Miguel and I managed to phase all the unfortunate soon-to-be-victims out. I set the vortex bomb and, well..." Danny shrugged. "Anything within that complex was sucked into it and blown apart. There's a huge hole in the ground, now, but I suppose it will serve as an artificial lake someday."

There was a long, considering silence before Xanatos sighed. "It's over."

Danny nodded. "It's over." Danny looked around and frowned. "Why aren't any of the fey here?"

Goliath scowled. "They are inconsiderate and—"

Queens put a hand on her love's forearm and shook her head. Goliath looked at her and sighed heavily. "Why bother trying to understand them?"

Danny snorted and smirked. "Point. Is there anything else you need me for?"

"We'll call you if there is. Go be with your family."

Danny was gone before Bluestone had finished his sentence. Danny found his children hovering outside the door and he swept them both up off their feet and into a hug, both of them laughing and protesting the treatment. Danny set them down, but didn't let go of their hands. "What do you want to do? Daddy's home for a long time now."

"Really?"  
"Really."

Both children smiled broadly and dragged their willing father away.

–

"I was kind of hoping that you'd make them sleep on their own," Sam said with a whimsical note in his voice.

Danny looked up at his lover and smiled faintly, his children fast asleep draped across him. He gave his lover a soft smile and shook his head. "Sorry."

He had done his _hardest_ to be a good father to them—he hadn't left their side until each was at least 1—it had driven others crazy, but the Gargoyles had understood. Clan—family—comes before all else. After that...he had come back to them as often as possible, and once they began to talk, he was in touch with them daily (unless circumstances intervened). He loved them more than he would have thought possible, and they in turn, loved him hesitantly back.

Sam sat down next to Julia and gently stroked her hair. "You give them your all."

"They're _my_ family," Danny said with an edge of protectiveness in his voice, "and no-one can protect them better than I. I just wish I had been able to spend more time with them..."

"You did what you could, dear," the other man murmured.

"But what if it wasn't enough...?" Danny trailed off hesitantly, his arms tightening slightly, pulling his progeny closer. "What if—"

Sam shook his head slowly. "No 'what if's. Being a father _and_ Danny Phantom was difficult. Much more so than the 'working' parents of a decade or so ago. _They_ weren't expected to save the world on a near-daily basis."

Danny chuckled weakly. "I know. Nonetheless..."

Sam sighed. "You're such a perfectionist."

"Only when it counts," Danny replied with a suggestive smirk.

"Danny! Not with the children around!" Sam teasingly rebuked.

The smirk turned into a genuine smile and Danny lightly stroked his son's back. "How were they in my absence? How was everything, actually?"

"Your children were children. You should know their exploits, though, since you talk to them daily."

"I know, I know. But..." Danny sighed. "Nevermind. How was everything else?"

"A few 'deaths', Mark and Kaitlin had twins, much to their father's dismay—"

"Kaitlin kept you from telling him?"

"And that woman can be _scary._"

"I have no doubt."

"Three more found their way to us, including that baby that you met." A pause. "She's going to be living with us, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

"Was afraid you'd say that."

"Who are the other two?"

"They were 'adopted' by their respective age groups, but I know that once people get wind of you being here for a _while_, that they'll be banging on the door, asking you to meet the newbies."

Danny sighed heavily. "Why, Mother, why?" Danny groaned.

Sam chuckled softly. "Your own fault."

"I know," Danny groused. He looked at his love and smiled softly. "Promise that the day after tomorrow will be devoted entirely to you."

"Because tomorrow you'll be making the rounds and making sure everything's in working order..." Sam sighed, but there was a smile in his eyes. "And to think the stories I heard of you when you were younger!"

Danny rolled his eyes. "20 years changes you. Especially when you gain a family, have to deal with diseases, deaths, loves, and so on."

Sam nodded and leaned carefully over Danny's daughter and kissed Danny sweetly. "Day after tomorrow, you're _mine_."

"I'm yours every day, but I promise to spend time with you all that day."

"You better," Sam said in teasing warning before lying down next to Julia and phasing into the covers, his arm lightly crossing the girl's stomach to lie on Danny's. Their eyes met briefly before Sam's closed.

Danny spent the night looking up at the ceiling feeling more at ease than he had in years.

–

Danny readjusted the strap on the harness that he used to hold the smallest children when he traveled, checking to make sure Chistrana—the new baby—was secure.

"You know, _how_ many children have you raised, if you counted all the strays?" Marla asked, amused.

Danny sighed. "A lot. And even if I _haven't_ raised them, because I'm such a presence and everyone hears so much about me, it's as if I've helped many more. There's _no-one_ here that doesn't know my name or face, and I've never introduced myself to any of them!"

"Ah, the perils of life as a superhero."

Danny grimaced. "I'm no hero."

"Funny. From the stories—"

"The _stories_ don't mention that I'm a murderer. They don't mention the poor judgement calls I've made. They don't mention how I've been too late to save someone a number of times. They don't mention how I, in a way, am _responsible_ for this entire mess."

"Someone who wasn't a hero wouldn't bother to continue trying after those setbacks."

Danny shook his head slowly, his eyes haunted. "Think what you will. Where are the two new arrivals? What are they?"

"Both half-ghost with varying degrees of power and control," a voice supplied.

Danny sighed inwardly. "Lucas. How are you?" Danny asked, turning to face the half-ghost.

Danny was _known_ universally, but not _liked_ universally. There was some who rightly blamed Danny for their condition, and so resented him. Many of those had tried to kill him over the years, although there were some, such as Lucas, who saw Danny as a necessary evil. Danny did his part to fix what he had unconsciously wrought, and they recognized how often he put himself on the line. They might _respect_ him, but that was the extent of their tolerance for him.

The half-ghost shrugged. "Same old same old. The surface safe finally?"

Danny nodded. "Every last strain of ectopox has been wiped out, we've found a cure for it, and there're the vaccines..."

A look of relief briefly flashed over the man's face before being replaced by its usual stoniness. "Finally be able to _leave_ this place," the man growled, and Danny restrained a wince.

"You helped build it," Danny pointed out.

"Not to make it a prison."

"You could have left at any time."

"And leave my fami—" Lucas looked sourly at Danny. "One half-ghost is in his mid-40s. The other is a teen. Apparently they're family and had been surviving on the fringes. They're here to recover."

Danny nodded slowly. "Thank you for taking care of them," he said solemnly. While they might not_ like_ each other, Lucas made a _damn_ good second-in-command.

"I didn't do it for you."

"Thanks anyway," Danny said with a smile. "We'll have to talk later, debrief each other on what's been going on. I need to make the rounds. So, how about we meet at 3?"

Lucas shrugged. "Fine. Where?"

"Where would you feel most comfortable?" Which meant, 'where would you feel least vulnerable?'

"Meeting Room."

"Very well. See you then!" Danny said cheerfully, which made Lucas snort as Danny walked away.

Once far enough away, Danny let his face tighten in pain. Lucas...before he had become a half-ghost, he had been a highly successful military officer. He had been discharged once it became apparent what disease he had caught. It was with full honors and everything, but Lucas always resented that he was cut down at the height of his career. Danny and he had actually met on a battlefield. Lucas had mistook him for an enemy, they had fought, and, well...Danny had sort of embarrassed him while simultaneously earning an uneasy respect from the man.

Once it was discovered that Danny's genetics were the basis for all three strains of ectopox, however, any friendship between them had been shattered, leaving only a wary mistrust. Lucas was still willing to work with Danny, though, since Danny happened to be the strongest and most capable at defeating what they were up against.

Lucas had been hurt trying to prove he was better than Danny, so now he was stuck working behind a metaphorical desk, being mostly a tactician instead of a warrior. It drove him insane, but wounds from a Gargoyle didn't heal like normal ones. Danny could attest to that as much as Lucas could.

The baby made an unhappy noise, catching wind of Danny's mood, and the older ghost smoothed out his disposition. The baby still made fussy sounds, but slowly calmed. Danny sighed softly. The one good thing about ghost babies was that they didn't make the same messes as human or half-ghost babies. It made Danny's life _marginally_ easier.

Danny pushed open the door leading into the subterranean farming complex and breathed in the scent with a smile. It was nice to smell life instead of decay. He caught sight of an unfamiliar face and walked over, allowing the other half-ghosts present to register his presence instead of just teleporting over, which would have been his normal transportation.

"Phantom! How are you?" a woman with a thick Texas drawl asked, walking over to meet him. They embraced each other and Danny smiled. "Back with good news. But, first," Danny looked around and caught the eyes of the newest half-ghost, "I'd like to introduce myself to our new companion." Danny walked over and held out his hand. "My name is Phantom. Who are you?" he asked in ghost-tongue. He had heard everyone speaking it, so he assumed the man wasn't a native English speaker.

"Vishad," the man answered, hesitantly taking Danny's hand.

"It's nice to meet you," Danny said with a reassuring smile. "I've heard from my second that you've been half-ghost for a while...?"

"5 years, my daughter and I."

Danny nodded. "You are safe here. Take all the time you need to recover. If you need anything at all, ask after myself, Lucas, or Yoshiko. We run things here, more or less."

"Wait...Phantom? _The_ Phantom?"

Danny sighed heavily inward. "Yes, _the_ Phantom."

"I've heard stories...I never believed you were real."

"I am," Danny said with a small smile, "quite real. May I meet your daughter?"

"Of course!" the man said. "She is shy, but a nice girl."

Danny smiled slightly. "I think I'll manage. Thank you. I assume she's with the other teens?"

He nodded.

Danny nodded back. "I'll see you around, Vishad."

The man looked astonished that Danny remembered his name. Danny turned and walked leisurely through the farming complex. The _ghosts_ didn't need to eat, but the half-ghost ones _did_, so they did what they could. They lived an unfortunately forced vegetarian existence, since it would have been dangerous to keep and raise animals—no-one was _quite_ sure how the 3rd gen ecotpox worked, so they figured to err on the side of caution and not raise livestock and the like. Perhaps later, when there was no doubt that the threat was over, they'd pick up husbandry again.

Danny exited through the greenhouse where the non-sustenance based vegetation was (flowers, trees, etc.). It was calming and gave people something to do. It was better than being bored out of their skulls.

He made his way into the cafeteria and easily caught sight of the newest addition to their teenage population. He walked over, and one of those he helped raise caught sight of him first.

"Danny!"

"Phantom, please. You're too old to call me Danny anymore," Danny rebuked the speaker, cuffing him gently on the head.

Alex sneered. "Don't tell me what to do!"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Danny told him dryly. Danny looked at the new girl and gave her a reassuring smile. "My name, contrary to what this one might claim, is Phantom. You are...?" he asked, extending his hand.

The girl hesitated then lightly took his hand. "Anusha."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful young lady," Danny told her and lightly kissed the back of her hand, making her face burn and she snatched her hand back quickly. "I help run things around here, so if you have need of anything, either get one of these yo-yos to show you around or ask for Phantom, Lucas, or Yoshiko. You're welcome to stay here for as long as you need or want to."

"Hey, you got a kid on your back."

"Yes, I do," Danny said, looking over his shoulder at said child.

"An orphan?"

"A Lost One."

There was a collective wince.

"A what?"

"Her parents caught wind that she would grow up to be a half-ghost and aborted her. This, of course, prematurely made her _full ghost._ It's remarkable that she found her way here, but I'm not going to complain."

"If she's full-ghost, won't she stay that young forever?"

Danny shook his head. "Before the advent of ectopox and the inclusion of a random 'ghost' gene in the human sequence...yes, she would have stayed a baby forever. But, because she made the transfer from half-ghost to full-ghost, she'll age as a human would. Once she gets a hang of her ghost nature, however, she'll be able to age herself as she wishes, appearing younger or older depending on her whims."

"Full-ghosts can _do_ that?"

Danny smirked. "For all you know, I could be _360_ years old instead of 36."

Danny laughed at the incredulous looks and the baby on his back cooed at his good humor. "I'll be around. I have good news that you will undoubtedly know of long before I make a formal announcement."

_That_ comment sparked interest in the younger half-ghosts's eyes and Danny walked away before he could be dragged into a questioning session.

_I swear, they'd give any of the 'professionals' we have a run for their money when they're properly motivated._

Danny meandered into the hospital wing, the recreation room, the residential areas, making one large circuit of the sprawling underground complex.

"Find everything to your liking?"

Danny smiled faintly at the old woman who joined him. "An expert job, as usual."

Yoshiko had caught the ecotpox in her late 80s, and the new youth it afforded her had _not_ been wasted. When Danny and she had met, he had immediately taken her in and put her in charge of residential life—all aspects, from who lives where, to how much is needed to get by. She had taken to the role like a fish to water, once she had figured out the ghost language. She had, on her own, recruited a whole posse of people to help run the complex, and Danny had been more than content to let it all fall squarely in her lap.

"Of course," she replied. "You have news?"

"It's over."

The woman blinked. "Over?"

"Finished. Every strain of ectopox is gone, the South American gargoyles have found a cure, and we have a vaccine. _We've survived._"

Yoshiko's wrinkled face bloomed into a smile. "Wonderful! But, now is the hardest part."

"Rebuilding, I know." Danny sighed. "In some ways, fighting for survival is easier than this step."

"Can't give up now, ghostling."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Must you call me that?"

Yoshiko merely smiled.

"I take that as a 'yes'," Danny groused.

"What do we have to work with outside?"

"Not enough," Danny sighed. "We're starting from close to square one. There are leftovers of previous buildings, but natural resources are dangerously low. We'll probably coordinate with everyone to find out what is and is not habitable, what's leftover that we can use, and what defenses we need. Remember—not everyone is happy that things turned out the way they have."

Yoshiko sighed. "The vultures."

Danny nodded. "Unavoidable."

Yoshiko looked inscrutable for a moment before asking, "I've always meant to ask—how'd you build this place? It's far more advanced than anything else that should exist."

Danny sighed and ran a hand across his scalp. "Long story."

Yoshiko looked at him hard before sighing. "You're not going to tell me."

"If I haven't told Sam, I won't tell anyone."

"You have many secrets. Many people still aren't even sure how you came to be. To most, your past is a mystery."

"And it will _stay that way,_" Danny said emphatically. His past...

Yoshiko looked at him and sighed softly. "It is a source of pain. You should tell _someone._"

Danny gave her a sad smile. "I don't trust _anyone_ that much."

"Not even Samuel?"

"_Especially_ Samuel," Danny replied softly.

The two stood in front of the Meeting Room doors and Danny pushed them open, gesturing Yoshiko in first, who gave him an amused partly-bow.

Danny followed her in and closed the door. Lucas was already waiting for them, rubbing the stump of his left leg uneasily, the fake one propped against the table. "At least you're not late," he growled.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Danny replied. "I assume you want me to start?"

Both half-ghosts gave Danny a _look_. "Right, right," he said with a sigh. "You remember the intelligence we got from the human we captured, right? After debating it for a few hours, it was decided that myself, along with a small strike team of two half-ghosts, a gargoyle, and the gamma squad would go in and check if the intelligence was correct, and, if it was, to take it out. If it was correct, it would be the last stand of research laboratories devoted to the containment and production of ectopox." Danny sighed and rubbed his head. "The information was correct. It wasn't easy, but we got in..." Danny stopped and sighed. "It never gets any less horrific. We found that they had nearly developed a new strain, but I got rid of it. We checked the mainframe when we finally found the research computers, and wiped the data on the production and composition of the disease. We were _damn_ thorough. We left no stone unturned..." Danny's eyes closed. "We killed the ones who were too far gone, mentally or physically. We destroyed the carriers, the machines, the holding cells." Danny sighed. "I'm pretty sure they knew we were coming, though. They had weapons that neutralized the half-ghosts, and those..._creatures_...that feed off Gargoyles."

Danny sighed. "I was lucky. I tend to be. Myself, Bill, Cassandra, Revy, and Zhao appeared to be have survived, everyone else having been killed. This wasn't bad. There's a reason the gamma squad is considered the best out there. I vortexed the place, but something felt...off." Danny shook his head. "Bill was infected. I killed him, quickly and painlessly. The man was a dick, but even _he_ doesn't deserve the infection." Danny took a shuddering breath. "But, before I could kill him, he had attacked the other human survivors."

There was a silence. "So it's just you."

Danny hung his head and rubbed his eyes. "Yes." Danny's face tightened. "I try and I try but I can _never_ save them!" Danny snarled and hit the table with his fist.

"This is why it is best not to form friendships with humans," Lucas said in a slightly hollow voice. He, too, had experienced exactly what Danny had.

"We _must_ though. Isolation will destroy us all."

Danny nodded and rubbed his eyes. "I didn't bring up all the details in the general meeting."

"Why not?"

"Because the fey weren't visible. Whenever that happens, they're plotting something, so I figured it was best to keep things to a minimum."

The two others looked at each other uneasily. "And whenever the fey are plotting, bad things are sure to follow," Lucas murmured.

Danny took a shuddering breath and put himself back under iron control. "Now, I need logistics. Also, do we have anyone to spare? I know that Xanatos or Goliath will put in a request soon for those capable of recon missions. They'll be wanting to map out how much resources we have left and what we will be able to manage with the manpower we have. It's time to reclaim the planet. It won't be easy."

"Nothing worth having ever is."

–

Danny wrapped his arms around his lover's waist and pulled him back against him, nuzzling the back of his neck. Sam laughed in slight surprise, and Danny could _feel_ the love coming off him. He felt kind of bad that he could only partly return it, and was relieved that Sam couldn't pick up on emotions like he could.

"Your news was well-received," his lover told him in a quiet voice.

Danny snorted. "Understatement."

There was a brief, comfortable silence.

"Everything's finally finished, love. You now need be nothing more than my lover and a father. There are no more epic battles to be fought, no enemy to be defeated, no world to save."

Danny sighed softly, pressing his lips against Sam's neck in a brief, chaste kiss. "The world will always need help. There will _always_ be work for Danny Phantom...but that doesn't mean I don't deserve a _very long vacation._"

"That will revolve exclusively around your family."

"Damn straight," Danny muttered, his hands lightly stroking his lover's chest.

Sam leaned back against him, his head fitting snugly beneath Danny's chin.

"I'm lucky to have you all," Danny said softly, kissing the top of his lover's head. "I don't think I would have survived with my sanity intact if I didn't have my children and my love."

"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for."

"Perhaps," Danny said after a long moment of silence.

"DADDY! JEWELS HIT ME!"

"I _did not!_"  
Danny sighed and disentangled himself from Sam, who chuckled softly, following him. Danny walked out of his bedroom and sighed at the mess in what served as a parlor. He navigated the treacherous pathway to find his children bickering. He picked both of them up around the waists, carrying one slung over his shoulder and the other supported on his hip. He sat them both down on the couch and crossed his arms, eyes narrowing.

"Start from the beginning."

Both started talking at the same time, and Danny didn't bother to make them speak one at a time, sifting through the half-argument silently. Eventually, he decided he had heard enough.

"Julia. Vladimir," he said, a hard edge in his voice.

Both quieted immediately, looking at their father nervously.

"I've told you not to get into fights with each other, haven't I?"

"Yes." The both answered simultaneously.

"And you got into a fight anyway."

"Yes..."

"Which means you didn't listen to me."

"Yeah..."

"But she started—"

Danny shook his head sharply. "It doesn't matter who started it. You both know better."

The two looked away from each other, fidgeting under their father's disapproval.

"This will be your punishment: _together_, without fighting, you are to clean up _this_ mess. Then, Vladimir, _you_ are going to help the farmers for two days _without complaining._ If you _do_ complain, and I _will know_, you will have more days tacked on. You, young lady, are going to help out Sam in the medical ward for the same amount of time."

"But--!"

"The same applies to you. If Sam reports that you've been complaining or shirking your duties, you get more time tacked on. Do we have an understanding?"

The two looked at each other sourly before nodding unhappily.

"Good. Now, get to work."

Danny caught Sam looking at him and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You pick very strange ways of disciplining your children."

"Vladimir dislikes manual labor and Julia needs to learn to be more physically gentle. They're both doing something they won't _like_ doing, but that they'll learn from. They'll certainly get more out of it than my physically disciplining them."

Sam sighed and shook his head in amusement. "You are a strange one, love."

"So I've been told," Danny replied with good humor.

"Now, if you don't mind, you promised me that today would be dedicated to me..." Sam trailed off, giving Danny a significant look that had Danny grinning.

"I did, didn't I?"

Sam turned and started walking away, Danny quick to follow. About two steps later, Danny found himself stuck. He looked down in annoyance and yelped in surprise, catching the attention of his family.

"Danny!" Sam cried, slight panic in his voice as Danny fought against the bands of light that sought to pull him into the steadily growing pool of brilliance at his feet. Danny strained against the hold, trying to phase out of them, but found himself bound. "Sam! Julia! Vlad!" Danny cried out, reaching out a hand to his family. "Don't get too close to the portal!" That was all it could be, really. "I don't know what'll happen to y—"

Danny's fingertips just barely brushed against his son's before he was wrapped in the searing light, yanked downwards.

–

_It is time._

---

**Post-note**: Thanks to all who read this far. I promise you that everything will be explained in due time...


	2. Chapter 2

**Author**: I moved some stuff around and am fiddling with how I plan on presenting the story. I'd like your opinions on my format. Thanks for reading! :D

**Disclaimer**: I _so_ wish...no more college debt!

--**Chapter 2**--

Danny woke with a start, his heart beating frantically in his chest. The blankets pooled around his waist as he sat up too quickly, his mind reeling with images and voices and emotions stronger than any he had encountered before. He slowly pulled his erratic breathing under control and waited for his head to stop spinning before he reached blindly over to his bedside table and turned on the light.

The soft glow illuminated familiar surroundings—his bed, the poster of various nebulae courtesy of the Hubble telescope, his abused computer, his backpack lying in the corner—and his heart slowly calmed.

_What a weird dream,_ he thought. _I mean, _me?_ A _dad?_ And in love with another guy? Seriously? Dude, I must be almost as crazy as the frootloop._

Danny laughed tightly and pulled his legs up to his chest as he rested his forehead against his knees. _I've never had a dream like that before. It felt so _real._ Like I was actually there._

Danny's eyes closed, running the dream over in his head. It was already growing fuzzy, as most dreams, and he sighed heavily. "Nothing to worry about, Danny. Just...go back to sleep," he muttered to himself. He sat up straight and ran a hand through his messy hair, and found, to his chagrin, that he was still shaking slightly.

"Just a dream, Danny," he murmured, but found that the worlds rang dull in the air, as if mocking him, whispering that it wasn't _just_ a dream.

Danny growled softly and threw the covers off him, his feet touching the ground soundlessly. He pushed himself vertical and stalked quietly through the upstairs until he reached the bathroom. He didn't bother to turn on the light, moving to stand square in front of the dark mirror, his softly glowing eyes the only illumination in the otherwise pitch-black room. At first, his eyes were the _only_ thing he could see in the mirror, which was odd, but slowly the rest of his outline began to form.

There.

Everything was as it should be.

_Clockwork said that training with him would change me,_ Danny thought idly, his hand rising to smooth down a bit of hair that was sticking up at an odd angle. _Perhaps this is what he meant?_

Danny sighed and let his hand fall, his eyes never leaving the mirror, watching it mimic his movement. He spent another three minutes making sure that he was who he appeared to be, his form and shape still remaining Daniel Fenton.

Still, curiosity and uncertainty gnawed at him. Perhaps he was _missing _something? Something...important? Maybe to do with his ghost form...?

After a brief pause, Danny shifted into his ghost form and nearly tripped over air in shock. He moved closer to the mirror, as if trying to penetrate its depths, and the tension in his shoulders vanished as he beheld himself once more.

He took a few steps back, unconsciously phasing through the bathtub, getting a good look at as much of his body as possible.

_What _was_ that?_ He wondered, moving his arms and legs, watching intently in the mirror, before his hands traced his slight, youthful frame. _No, better question—_who _was that?_

For the briefest of moments, he hadn't been looking at 16-year-old Danny Phantom; he had beheld a much older ghost in the mirror that nonetheless held a striking resemblance to the face he was looking at now. There had been, however, some very obvious differences.

The image's pure white hair had been cut short, close to his head, but Danny had the impression of there having been a ponytail of some sort pooling in the hood of the cloak he had been wearing about his shoulders. His face was remarkable for its asymmetry. One eye had been whole and human, carrying a deep sadness and world-weariness in its neon-green depths. That side of his face had been smooth and pale as death, not a wrinkle marring his strong features, a porcelain surface unmarked by time and cares.

The _other_ eye had been completely bright, glowing green, as was the case with many ghosts Danny knew. A long scar ran from his hairline, across his forehead at an angle, cutting through his eye-socket, down his cheek, nicking the corner of his mouth, to come to completion at his jaw. Another ran from his hairline across the side of his head, part of his earlobe missing where the scar should have continued.

All in all, it seemed as if some monster had caught him across one side of his face, and he had been lucky to come away with only _scarring._

Around his shoulders was a cloak that seemed to fade into and out of the shadows, almost appearing to be a part of darkness that had come to life. It hung in thick folds around him, covering him from the hollow of his throat down, Danny having been unable to see past the apparitions chest. The neck of the ghost had been covered in a strange black material that seemed to shimmer in the dimness, as if reflecting off a thousand tiny links of something, which covered up to his jawline.

A moment's pause longer, and he recalled a pair of what appeared to be goggles around his neck—perhaps a necessary precaution in order to hide his one eye?

_But, why...? Why did he appear that way?_

Danny moved forward and placed his hand against the cold reflective surface, eyes gazing deeply into the reflected orbs looking back at him.

There had been something in that reflection, something that had struck an odd chord in Danny, that made him think, _Is that me?_ Rather than _Who is that?_

That made him think, _If I look deep enough, maybe I'll see him again?_

No matter how long he stood there, though, the image did not reappear, which sent him back to his bedroom in his human form, a headache forming behind his eyes.

The apparition left him uneasy and wondering, his mind focusing almost solely on the clasp that held the shadow around his shoulders—_his_ symbol.

_Was that me? In the future? What could have possibly happened to me to do _that_?_

Danny sat down on his bed and placed his head in his palms, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes, trying to banish the image that seemed to grow alive in his mind, absorbing him, capturing his attention, trying to speak to him, but the words were distant and warped, a language he could almost understand, if the static would only clear...

Danny nearly jumped out of his skin when his alarm blared, his eyes flicking over to it, a hand reaching out instinctively to shut it up.

He stood, feeling more fatigued than he had in a long time, as if he had been fighting the entire night—except the only thing he had been doing was sitting and pondering over an image in a mirror.

Danny snorted and shook his head, an almost-sneer forming on his face.

_Can't believe I wasted a whole night obsessing over a picture. I mean, I could have just imagined it..._

A part of him asked if he imagined it the same way he imagined the dream.

Danny shook his head emphatically in an attempt to clear his head, and gathered his belongings for a quick shower, trying to chase away the cobwebby strands of midnight musings with cold water and routine.

By the time he finished eating his breakfast, he had removed the last dregs of what he now dismissed as an exhaustion-induced nightmare away. He gathered his school things, covertly transformed into his ghost form, and took off into sky, the wind whistling through his ears clearing the last of his uneasiness away.

Still, the exhaustion of a sleepless night remained, and Tucker, in his usual blithe manner, said in way of greeting:

"You look like crap, Danny."

"Thanks," Danny groused at his best friend after having transformed out of his ghost form in a safe place.

"We're in a good mood today, aren't we?" Sam drawled from the other side of him, Danny walking between his quasi-girlfriend and his best friend.

Danny rolled his eyes in response. He was surprisingly relieved at the butterflies in his stomach that formed from her nearness. He was _totally_ straight and crushing on Sam like nobody's business. Definitely.

Summer was quickly approaching, and Danny's ice powers were the only things keeping him from dying of heat. As it was, he wasn't looking forward to going _into_ the school, where the only air-conditioning existed in the library and, given a choice, that would be the last place he'd want to be. Nevertheless, the solemn facade of Casper High crept up on them and they entered through the double-doors into the suffocating hallway.

They all walked to their lockers, talking about nothing in particular, Danny savagely focusing on what was going on around him. He was 16 years old (a junior), and while he walked the knife's edge, balancing his social life, ghost hunting, and school, things were going...well, actually not that badly. It was weird not having Jazz around, but, in a way, it was nice not having her bugging him all the time.

Danny closed his locker and in the brief reflection of sunlight against his locker, an image flashed through his vision—the same man as the morning, face contorted in a mixture of emotions so strong that Danny could hardly comprehend them, the feeling briefly overwhelming him, lasting only as long as the time it took for his locker to close; however, the intensity of the vision left him gasping for air and leaning on the locker, eyes wide in surprise.

"Danny? Are you okay?"

Danny turned his head, fearing the worst, but when only Sam met his eyes, he let out a long breath. He gave his almost-girlfriend a shaky smile and said with more bravado than he felt: "Of course I'm okay. C'mon, I'd rather not deal with Lancer today."

Sam gave him a worried look before nodding, and they, along with Tucker, fell into step together, breaking apart only when the warning bell rang, each headed to their own first period class.

Danny sat down in his seat, his bag slipping out of his grasp to slither onto the floor beside him. He took out his notebook and pencil, carefully keeping his eyes away from any reflective surface. He looked up and leaned his head in the palm of one hand, the other twirling a pencil between his fingers idly. His history class—_American History, how dumb is that?_—began without any incident, and the tension that had begun to bind itself to Danny's frame started to leech away.

Until he looked down at his notes and realized he was taking them in a different language.

Danny nearly dropped his pencil, but doing that would draw attention to himself, so he just swallowed hard and _focused_, changing his writing back to English. He looked back up at the teacher and the next time he glanced down at his notes he was relieved to see them in English.

_What is this language, though? I'm horrible at Spanish and I don't know any non-English alphabets..._

He shook himself and was all too glad when he had to put his notebook away.

_What's going on? What's wrong with me?_ He thought pensively as he walked down the hallways, deftly avoiding the other students.

He passed through math without incident, and was relieved that the next class he had Sam in. Perhaps she would be a grounding influence, keep him from doing weird things like writing in a different language.

He had forgotten that the class was Spanish.

He sat down in his chair and took out his notebook, his hand hesitating as it went for a pencil, a frown forming on his face. A ghost hadn't attacked and it was already 3rd period. That was...unusual.

But not unwanted. Not with how everything was being so weird.

Sam sat down beside him and Danny flashed her a quick smile, which she returned with a light punch to his shoulder.

Danny leaned back in his chair and turned his attention to the Spanish class.

As he was about to doze, Sam poked him with the sharp end of her pencil, making him start, every nerve in his body screaming to full awareness. It was only through an effort of will that he didn't go ghost.

_What has me so jumpy_? He wondered as he calmed his heart and looked at the note Sam had slid onto his desk.

'You okay?' it inquired.

Danny began writing an answer, but stopped, his pencil already tracing curves of the alien—yet oddly familiar—script that he had written his history notes in. He erased what he had begun to write, and jumped when he was called upon to answer a question, the question posed to him in Spanish.

He answered instinctively, his brain having put together a vaguely coherent answer based upon what it understood.

The class laughed at him, and Danny flushed in anger and embarrassment, the language that had come out of his mouth most definitely _not _Spanish. He took a deep breath and the next time he answered in what was clearly Spanish, poorly spoken as it may be.

Attention was diverted from Danny's slip, leaving him to put his head in his hands, heaving a number of deep, shuddering breaths.

_What's wrong with me?!_

Spanish couldn't end too soon.

4th period was gym, and Danny _needed_ it that day—athletic he was not, but anything _physical_ to get rid of the tension that was torquing up in him. He flung his bag in his tiny locker and changed into his gym clothes violently. He stalked out into the gym itself, fighting for control. There was no reason for him to be this angry.

Was it anger, though?

Danny paced until Tucker and Sam appeared, which sent relief through him.

"Sam said you had something happen in Spanish," Tucker said, concern on his face.

Danny sighed and nodded. "I don't...I'm not sure what language I spoke. Do you, Sam?"

"There _was_ Spanish in there, but you used a mix of languages more than anything else, like...like...you had picked and chose among all human languages," Sam said, more than a little confused. "Are you _sure_ you're feeling okay?"

"No! No, I'm not okay!" Danny growled softly, frustrated, scratching his scalp. "I didn't sleep well last night because of a really wonky dream, I started writing in a weird script in history, I speak a language I don't _know_..." Danny's shoulders slumped.

"What was the dream?"

Danny tilted his head in thought before shaking his head. "I made myself forget it."

"You did _what_?" Tucker asked, surprised. "How can you do something like _that_?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "He's special like that."

Danny snorted, but the smallest of smiles flickered across his face.

The three broke up to sit briefly in their spots for attendance, and when they were released from their spots for the beginning of class, the three gravitated together again.

"So, what was the script you were writing?"

Danny sighed. "It wasn't...anything I've seen before. I'll show you my notebook at lunch."

"So...you just started writing it?"

Danny nodded. "I looked down after I had been writing what the teacher was saying, only to discover that it wasn't English."

"You sure your handwriting wasn't just particularly bad?"

"Very funny, Tuck," Danny drawled. "No, seriously. It's...strange."

"Do you think it has anything to do with your disappearance?"

Danny paused. "Maybe."

According to Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, two days ago Danny had simply...vanished. They had searched for him high and low, only to have him walk into school the next day as if nothing had happened. They had grilled him on his absence, but Danny had no idea what had happened in the time he had been gone.

"Where would I learn a new language, though?" Danny asked. "It's not like I'm _smart_."

Tucker snickered as Sam rolled her eyes.

"MANSON! FOLEY! FENTON!"

The three teens jumped and Danny was dragged into gym class, sulking the entire time.

Could_ it have had something to do with that day? _Danny wondered idly, stepping out of the way of any ball thrown his way, but never making any real effort to retaliate during the "game" of dodgeball.

_But...that man said he was _36._ That it had been _twenty years. _Twenty years can't pass in a day._

Danny frowned. _Or can it? I need to ask Clockwork sometime._

Danny didn't even notice when he ended the dodgeball game by catching the ball and pelting it at Dash, the only remaining opponent on the other side.

The bell rang and Danny was drawn out of his thoughts to see Sam and Tucker staring at him, mouths agape.

"What?" Danny asked mildly annoyed.

"Danny, _you won._"  
"Won what?"

"The gym game!"

Danny blinked and looked at the other side of the gym, only to find himself receiving a death glare from the entire football team, and a puzzled one from the gym teacher.  
Suddenly incredibly self-conscious, Danny bolted into the boy's locker room and quickly changed clothes before heading to lunch.

Sam and Tucker caught up to him only once he had sat down and was staring blankly at the sandwich his mom had packed him. His history notebook was open next to him, the strange glyphs clearly displayed.

Danny was struggling to work out what was happening to him, odd thing upon odd thing just compounding his confusion.

The strange dream-not-dream.

The apparition in the mirror and his locker.

The new language—both written _and_ spoken.

The casual, effortless, unconscious athletic skill.

Danny was changing—or, perhaps already _changed—_and he had no idea how or why.

Danny distantly heard Tucker whistle at the symbols scrawled neatly across his notebook, but really didn't care.

_Perhaps...this is just something half-ghosts go through?_ He thought hopefully. _Still going to see Clockwork._

"It _could_ just be something half-ghosts go through. I mean, I'm not going to ask the frootloop _ever_ and I'm the only other half-ghost in existence," Danny repeated aloud, picking the crust off of his sandwich before looking up at Sam and Tucker.

"Maybe," Sam answered slowly, eyes focused on Danny's notebook.

Danny took a bite of his sandwhich and chewed thoughtfully. "I'm gonna ask Clockwork," he told his friends, who looked at him, questioning. "Well, I figure he's the Ghost of Time, so maybe he'd know what's happening and where I was two days ago," Danny elaborated.

"Mm," Sam murmured, fingers tracing the gentle, sloping curves of the script.

Danny reached out and closed the notebook once Sam removed her finger, putting the book back in his bag.

Danny took a deep breath before shoving questions to the back of his mind, focusing instead on hanging out with his friends.

The rest of the day passed without incident, which worried the teen. His days were never so peaceful unless something somewhere was about to drop a bomb on him.

The days leading up to his encounter with Phantom had been blissfully quiet.

Thankfully, he knew _that_ creature was tucked away safely with Clockwork.

"Want to watch the latest B-grade zombie flick I got my hands on?" Sam asked with a grin as the trio walked away from school.

"Hell yeah!" Tucker said emphatically.

"Sounds good," Danny said with an equally wide grin. He always enjoyed watching horror flicks with Sam anymore—it was an excuse to get physically close to her without awkward questions being asked.

Or too much teasing from Tucker.

The three walked leisurely down the streets, not wanting to overheat, even though Danny carried his own internal air-conditioning unit that he attempted to extend to Tucker and Sam.

Danny found himself relaxing with the easy banter between his friends, and strange glyphs and languages were shoved to the back of his mind. Mindless chatter about DOOM and teachers and summer plans chased away the darkness edging his thoughts, a relief to the teen.

They all entered Sam's house with equal sighs of happiness at the air conditioning. Danny bid Sam's parents hello before disappearing down the stairs into the basement alongside his best friend and almost-girlfriend. He parked himself on Sam's couch as Sam readied the entertainment system, slipping the Blu-Ray disc into her top-of-the-line player.

_Funny for such a bad movie to be put on such a high quality machine,_ he thought with a small smile.

Once the movie started, Sam came over and sat close to Danny, Tucker snickering at the two of them from his own seat, earning a glare from Sam and a sigh from Danny.

As the movie began, it became quickly apparent why it was a B-movie. The acting was horrible, the special effects sucked, but it was good for a laugh.

For a while, at least.

Danny felt the oddest sense of vertigo creeping up on him, a deja-vu that gave him a headache.

An image, a line, made the vertigo pounce on him, sending him spiraling downward into darkness.

–

The man laughed, earning a scowl from the prone form against the wall, all limbs severed from his body, green ecoplasm flowing freely down the steel of his support. Danny looked at his limbs covertly, feeling the tingle in his body that told him that his limbs were starting to regenerate. He just had to stall the maniac before him, keep him focused on Danny alone—he had come across his enemy's ilk before, and this was a guy who hadn't read the Evil Overlords list that had circulated the internet two decades or so ago. Danny would simply have to look pathetic and helpless and then his foe would get to gloat (which his kind usually like to do—more ego than brains, although his ingenuity was what had made him dangerous).

The sad thing was that Danny didn't even know the man's _name_. Perhaps it was better that way, though...

"Why?" Danny asked in a broken whisper, sounding defeated and exhausted. The exhaustion in his voice wasn't feigned, but he was far from defeated.

"Why?" the madman sneered.

"You've killed millions of innocent civilians!" Danny cried, voice broken.

"Wrong!" he exclaimed with a triumphant light in his eyes. "_I_," he said, "have killed no-one."

"You were the catalyst, then," Danny croaked, and the tingle in his shoulders became an itch, which made him exert invisibility over the area where his arms would reform, just to give the warped man standing over him the illusion that Danny was still helpless.

The full-human chuckled darkly. "I can't deny that. You were as much of one as I, however," he told me.

Danny tuned the lunatic out, since he knew the man would launch into a speech about how he Failed At Life in an attempt to crush his morale, what shreds might remain. All Danny needed to do is flinch every now and then, as if the crazy man's words had actually hit home.

Danny had an unfortunately large base of experience with bat-shit insane individuals like his current company.

With a burst of energy, Danny's right arm restored itself…not that his foe saw it, since he _did_ have it under invisibility.

"Still, people are people! We're all cut from the same cloth," Danny protested weakly, cutting the raving off. "How can some be more deserving of life than others? Anyway, there was no way you could know how the disease would propagate or how governments would react."

"I _obviously_ know more about people and biology than you do," he said with smug superiority. "People aren't hard to predict. Fear makes humans do things that they would never do if they were in a calm state of mind, and, as people fear Death more than anything else, suggest a way—_any_ way—to relieve the shadow of Death, to starve the Reaper off slightly and they _jump_ at it," the man said, his voice rising in excitement. "And now, with all the _taints_ to the gene pool nearly gone this planet will be able to resurrect itself and a _true_ human race can be born!"

Danny couldn't help the silent sigh that escaped his lips, he hiding a wince as his other arm and one leg reformed. Why was it always those with the most grandiose and noble goals that take things too far?

"You could have worked _inside_ the bundaries, you know!" he grumbled. "Humanity is never beyond hope."

The man laughed. "You're a _ghost_. How could you know anything about humanity?" He sneered. There was a pause, and he became obviously curious. "Although you are admittedly the most human ghost I've ever worked on. What makes you different? I never was able to find out—all my tests said was that you were a ghost, just one of remarkable fortitude," he told Danny, walking towards the full-ghost.

_Just a little closer. Just a little _closer… Danny thought, his stomach sinking to his heels as his left arm was renewed. Just because Danny knew what he had to do didn't make him like it.

"Just who are you, Phantom?" the doctor asked, and jerked Danny's face up to look into his eyes.

Danny gave the fool a wry smirk. "Bad decision," Danny told him and possessed him.

There was no question as to whose will was stronger between the two of them. Danny might have been exhausted, but after wrestling with the consciousness of someone going through a psychotic break, he had become very good at holding his own against the most fanatical among the living, since nothing—_nothing—_was as bad as dealing with the horrifying void of a half-dead mind.

Danny subdued the doctor and sighed, running a hand through the man's thinning hair. "Let's get this over with," he muttered and walked over to the lunatic's copious collection of computers. Danny picked out the passwords from the other's mind and searched out the memory stick Danny had hid on the other when they had been engaged physically.

Finding it, Danny smirked faintly and stuck it into one of the ports. He transferred all the data that was needed and unplugged the stick before completely wiping the entire system of data. By the time he was finished, there was nothing on the servers—or any of the international ones that the man had been connected to—that had even a byte of data left that was concerned with the horrors that the man had help spawn.

"What are you doing?" cried a voice and Danny turned quickly, surprised. His senses were dulled when possessing a human body, which allowed others to sneak up on him, much to his annoyance.

"Correcting a mistake," Danny told the two assistants who had come in to find him finishing his job. He reached out and placed his hand on the mother-super-computer and gave the two who had discovered him a wry smile. "This controls everything here, doesn't it?" he half-asked, half-told them.

"Wait--!"

He sent a shock of ghost-electricity through it and all the systems in the complex crashed.

That meant that anyone under remote control through electronic implants was freed, those working on finding ways to combat the cures that Fox, Crystal, Gladys, Eugene, Dominic, and he had created found their work nullified, and all the containers that the disease remained in were shut down, killing the virus within them.

Afterall, the virus required electricity of some kind to keep it virile—which is why it flourished in human beings. Just one large ball of neural electricity.

For some reason it didn't like ghost energy, though, which was odd, but a blessing.

"_What have you done?_" the man wailed in his mind.

Danny de-possessed the man who had made his life—as well as the lives of billions of others—a living hell. He hovered in the darkness above him, feeling almost sad for the warped man. A brilliant mind, really.

If only Thalog hadn't twisted it to what he desired.

Danny was torn between killing him or letting him kill himself. He knew that no matter what, the good doctor wouldn't be able to live with what Danny had made him do.

In the end, he didn't have to worry because with a loud crack, a laser cut through the air and left a small, burning hole through the scientist's labcoat, adding another stain to its collection. Danny watched dispassionately as he fell on the floor, his eyes able to cut through the darkness—but he was unable to locate the one who had killed not only the man but his assistants that had been at the door. Danny floated down next to the fallen man and whispered in his ear the answer to the question he had posed: "I'm not really a ghost. I'm a human who made the transition to full-ghost long before your _plague_ came into being," Danny told him before teleporting away from the room.

The ghost landed in a hallway not too far from where he had been—he had little energy at his disposal—and cloaked himself in the guise of a baffled worker. There certainly were enough of them around.

He jumped as the infantry arrived before he smiled faintly.

The Gargoyles certainly knew how to make an entrance. There were screams of surprise, but most people were so disoriented that there was little to no resistance to the virus-immune creatures who were making sure all the viruses in the complex had been rendered impotent.

Danny sighed and shook his head before taking charge of the evacuation—he didn't want to see anyone catch the disease should there be some left that was still potent. Everyone was scared, so they listened to what Danny told them to do, and, soon enough, he had everyone out who wasn't either dead or fighting. Danny called off all the clones that had assisted in his evacuation effort and sighed, leaning heavily against the wall behind him as his disguise faded.

He disliked fighting with a passion, so was mostly recon—or at least, that was how things were _supposed_ to be. More often than not he ended up on the front-lines as well, taking a hit for the team, so to speak.

The wall behind him gave way—a door!—and a strong arm wrapped around his throat, lifting him off the ground. Danny gurgled in surprise and phased out of the hold, turning in mid-air to view who his assailant was.

"Thalog," Danny said with deadly calm. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"_You_," the gargoyle snarled, eyes glowing a bright white, "have ruined _everything!_"

"You give me too much credit," Danny said casually. "You helped ruin this yourself. Got _too_ ambitious. Success got to your head—you're Xanatos-programed, you should know better," he taunted.

"I am not some _machine_," the large, imposing gargoyle told growled.

"Perhaps I'm doing machines a disservice," Danny told him with a cocky smirk. "Because, really, you're more _human_ than anything else."

Thalog snarled and Danny laughed, giddy with exhaustion. He had one spiteful ghost-beam left, but after that he'd be at the gargoyle's mercy.

Thalog raised a hand to slash down and tear through the ghost's poor, abused ectoplasmic form when something slammed into the gargoyle-construct's side, which sent the two of them rolling along the floor, snarling and snapping.

"Phantom?" Danny heard someone call out.

He tensed for a moment before he recognized her energy signature and sighed in relief.

He floated down to the floor and gave the female approaching him a slight wave, his body glowing faintly in the darkness.

Queens came rushing over and her hands lightly traced his body, a soft growl escaping her throat. "What did you _do_ to yourself?"

"Um, it's a long story," Danny told the human-turned-Gargoyle as he fidgeted with his Shadow that was slowly returning to him. "Who's fighting ol' Nasty?"

"What? Oh, it's David. He said he'd _personally_ take down Thalog…since the creature _is_ his fault."

Danny sighed and leaned back his head, my eyes closing slightly. "It's almost over, Queenie. It's _almost over_."

"I know," she told Danny warmly. "C'mon. We have to get you somewhere you can recover. Sam has been out of his mind with worry about you."

The ghost chuckled weakly. "Sam knows I've survived worse than a recon-mission-gone-wrong."

"He loves you."

"I know."

"Do you love him?"

"In the way I can."

Queens snorted. "At least you're honest about it. Seriously, you should _give up_ on that guy…you'll probably never see him again."

"Could you ever truly give up Goliath?"

The half-gargoyle shook her head. "No. I couldn't. Even if he told me to move on and forget about him, to learn to love another…he'd always still be there."

"That's what it's like for me," Danny whispered softly.

"You could be yearning for an ideal. You haven't seen him in 20 years."

Danny gave her a wan smirk. "Some of my worst memories are about him. But…" Danny sighed, "I don't know."

"You are a very, very strange person, Phantom."

"So I've been told," Danny answered with a tinge of amusement in his voice.

Danny took her hand and phased the both of them intangible, floating upwards until they broke out onto the surface. Danny regard the landscape with professional eyes. "Who else came with you?" he asked solemnly.

"The Japanese clan, our clan, the Egyptian clan."

"The warriors," he murmured, a wry smile on his face.

"We were expecting it to be pretty bad. We weren't sure if you'd be able to do what we asked of you. Once again, you've exceeded expectations."

Phantom chuckled weakly and looked back at where they had come from. "It seems so…_innocent_," he muttered crossly. "It looks like nothing more than another hill in the rolling landscape, not particularly remarkable."

"I know," Queens said morosely.

Danny took a deep breath before asking the half-gargoyle at his side, "Where to this time?"

"Back to base-camp."

"Right. New York it is," he muttered and focused on the small device embedded in his wrist. Around his hand, reality seemed to warp until a hazy picture of a castle in the clouds appeared. Together, they stepped through and found themselves back home.

Back in New York.

Or, what was left of it.

Danny flicked his wrist, working feeling back into the numb body part. "Hate how it does that."

"You and the half-ghosts are the only ones who can use it, though."

"I know, I know, and that's why there's one of us with every team. We can get everyone away and in a _hurry_..."

–

Danny blinked as the darkness lifted, to find that not even a minute had passed, the scene in the movie not even having changed. He looked at Sam beside him, who was watching the movie with a bored expression, leaning gently against Danny's side, arms linking around Danny's, which made his stomach twist in knots—although, perhaps, not for the reasons he initially imagined.

Danny swallowed and turned his attention back to the movie, the scene that had blotted out the movie still whirling freshly in his mind.


End file.
